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Gate-keeper or problem-solver?

I wrote recently about how the term “representative” can take on a different meaning depending on whether you consider your front-line agents as representatives of you as a brand, or of your Customers as they navigate your systems. When dealing with a hospitality brand recently, that came to mind.  There was a discrepancy and I [...]

By |2024-03-19T14:35:31+00:00March 19th, 2024|Consulting, CX Culture, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts|0 Comments

Who can?

I once had a great co-worker and mentor who, when teaching his Lean Six Sigma courses, would drop the quote:  “Never take ‘No’ as an answer from somebody who doesn’t have the authority to say ‘Yes.’” Now, in his context, we were talking about internal politics and change management in general.  As he was putting [...]

By |2024-03-05T15:39:42+00:00March 5th, 2024|Consulting, CX Culture, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, Leadership|Comments Off on Who can?

Some Customers Never Learn

“Your feedback is important to us.”  Sometimes those are just words.  And some Customers are suckers and will fall for it. A while back, I had some work done with a service provider and, to say the least, the experience was not up to snuff whatsoever.  This was a luxury brand and as such I’d [...]

By |2024-02-20T15:50:23+00:00February 20th, 2024|Consulting, CX Culture, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, VoC|Comments Off on Some Customers Never Learn

Representative for whom?

Folks who work in your Customer-facing organizations have a lot of different names.  Agents, technicians, associates (which always makes me chuckle a little bit), service providers, and others. One that often makes me think is:  Representative. It’s curious to me because it can go either way, can’t it?  Whenever I get a ‘representative’ on the [...]

By |2024-02-06T15:26:30+00:00February 6th, 2024|Consulting, CX Culture, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, Leadership|Comments Off on Representative for whom?

When to survey

I know I rail on about VoC (truth be known, that’s not my strongest topic of expertise; I’m much more of a Process Engineer)…Sure, VoC and Customer Insights inform the work we do to improve and better align our Customers’ Experiences with our Brand Promise, but it’s really just the first step. Nevertheless, I get [...]

By |2024-01-23T15:52:24+00:00January 23rd, 2024|Consulting, CX Culture, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, VoC|Comments Off on When to survey

Again, about how CS is NOT CX

It’d be a little melodramatic (not beyond me, mind you) to call it the bane of my existence, but yes it’s a bit of a task that complicates my days:  Explaining, when I say I’m “in CX” or that I “do CX” that, no, I’m not a ‘contact center guy.’  I don’t do Customer Support [...]

By |2024-01-09T15:22:07+00:00January 9th, 2024|Consulting, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts|Comments Off on Again, about how CS is NOT CX

If it’s a surprise, you’re in trouble

A while back, I wrote an article that kind of cheekily suggested that we simply stop doing VoC. For that matter, I kind of went on a speaking circuit with my snarky little message. (The punch-line is, well, don’t actually stop doing VoC things like surveying your Customer or walking in your Customers’ shoes, or [...]

By |2023-12-13T15:38:52+00:00December 13th, 2023|Consulting, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, VoC|Comments Off on If it’s a surprise, you’re in trouble

Omnihorrible

There’s an adage in the Process Engineering world that one should never automate a bad process.  I have friends who are in the automation business, and there are actually a lot of companies out there who are leveraging new technologies to streamline their operations.  But the philosophy stands:  If you’re automating, you’re wasting time and [...]

By |2023-11-28T15:34:13+00:00November 28th, 2023|Consulting, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts|Comments Off on Omnihorrible

How to impact CX from CS

It was a long time ago that I first wrote about the difference between CS and CX.  Here, define CS as Customer Support, Customer Service, Customer Success, or Customer Care (that last one is actually CC, but you get the drift).  Yes, they’re all actually different among each other, so shouldn’t always be lumped in [...]

By |2023-11-08T15:57:29+00:00November 8th, 2023|Consulting, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts|Comments Off on How to impact CX from CS

All I want is information

We recently needed a battery replacement in one of the household computers, so I made an appointment at the brand’s retail location in a local mall.  The process of registering and scheduling an appointment was super easy, and the appointment times were remarkably specific, so I figured I was in for a very tightly-run experience.  [...]

By |2023-10-24T14:42:43+00:00October 24th, 2023|Consulting, CX Culture, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, Leadership|Comments Off on All I want is information
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